NPR Music - Alt.Latino: Omar Apollo, Mon Laferte, Mabe Fratti

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

This week, NPR Music reporter Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento is back on the mic, bringing host Anamaria Sayre new music in the vein of her 2010s Tumblr era. Think emo bangs, bright blue skinny jeans and a Warped Tour T-shirt. Sonically, this week’s picks run through bedroom pop, sultry balladry and Bronx-Dominican rap over post-punk basslines.Featured artists and songs:• Titanic (I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti), “Escarbo dimensiones"• Mon Laferte, “Esto Es Amor"• Planta Industrial, “Teteo in The Bronx”• Santi Muk and Zenon Pereyra, “seu carinho,” “CUÁNTO FALTA PARA CONOCERTE?” and “ANA BAILABA”• Maria Usbeck, “Mar”• LATIN MAFIA and Omar Apollo, “Hecho para ti”This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and edited by Otis Hart. Suraya Mohamed is the Executive Producer of NPR Music and the madrina of Alt.Latino.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language. How do you want to start this thing, Issa? You have a theme. I have a theme, but it was like an accidental theme. It was like after I picked these songs, I was like, wow, this is like a playlist I would have made on Tumblr in 2010 when I wore like blue eyeliner and I had emo bangs. Can you just take us back to Tumblr in 2010, Issa, please? Tumblr in 2010, I was in seventh or eighth grade and I wore like bright blue skinny

jeans. Yes. And there was this obsession with like the warp tour bands and the XX. And I just thought I was so cool and smart and spent a lot of time reblogging stupid stuff. Okay, I'm officially there. Now, can you please play us your first song? But first, we have to explain to people what's happening. Obviously, once again, from NPR Music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Anna Maria Sayer and you are Isabella Gomez-Armiento. Okay, let's hit it. Okay, I wish I had been cool enough to listen to a song like this when I was a moody Tumblr kid, but I do think that is the energy it's giving. My first song is called Escadable Dimensiones, and it is by the group, Titanic,

which is made up of Mabe Frati and Ector Tosta, aka I La Catalica. Issa, I've been like, I saw your list of picks and I was geeking over all of them in this first one, especially. I mean, anything Mabe does to me is in. immediately leveled up, immediately. Like, I almost want to describe it as, like, metaphysical pop. There's so much going on with the strings,

the guitar, the drums. And then Ma'be's voice just manages to tie it all together in such an elegant way. But my favorite thing about the song is that, like, two minutes in, it totally transforms. It just picks up, okay? Que you want the Emos, that's darks, like, it gets heavy.

And the thing is, I was listening to this over and over, And I was like, that guitar riff reminds me of something, and I can't put my finger on it. And then I had to text Felix because I was like, this sounds exactly like the help on the way. This is a cameo from Felix. No, literally. It sounds exactly like the help on the way

to slip not transition that the Grateful Dead does, famously on their album Blues for Allah, but also just like a very important staple of the Dead's live shows. It just has that really rich and like narrative quality to it, but I think Mabe's voice sort of keeps you from tripping out. in this song in a way that you maybe would, some people would, not me, at a dead show. And it's just really, like, addictive.

I can't stop listening to it. This honestly makes so much sense because to me, Mabe's voice is very antithetical to who she is. Like, to me, I will say on record Mabe is one of the nuttyest people I've ever known in my life. And her cello is always her. Like the chaos, the discomfort, the intensity, the avant-garde nature of her music. That's her. the voice is this like beautiful rare bird that we rarely ever get to hear. And when we do, it like takes us back. It quiets us. It ties us together. It makes things okay. And so it makes

perfect sense in this context too. I love that. That's amazing, Issa. That was Escardo Dimensiones by the group Titanic. So that's kind of how we're kicking things off. What did you bring today? Okay. So Issa, our favorite adopted Mexican Chilean singer, Mon La Ferte, is back. I'm snapping. Mon to me, honestly, is kind of like the way that by Bunny is a chameleon, which every album and every kind of different era is him assuming a new character, Mon La Ferte is exactly that way.

And this is her, like, sexy ballad album. I've heard two singles now. This second single is called Thiso is Amor, and I need you to just take it in. Let's hear it. Swooning. I know. I know. I had someone asked me recently if music in Spanish is more graphic than music in English. What did you say?

And I was like, I need to think about that. They were like, well, I heard that a translation of a bad bunny song. And I was like, yeah, I guess that's kind of true. And then I hear this song and I'm not going to translate the lyrics, but that chorus, Comerter los Lavios is religion, entre your pyrna, and I heard that, and I was like, okay, yeah, they have a point. Yeah, there is a lot of imagery, very strong imagery. There's nothing subtle about what she's saying.

There's a lot of strong imagery, but she does it in this magical, hypnotic, like, very classic way. And that's what I've noticed about everything I've heard so far off of this album is this is her classic big almost like Beyes Artes era. I mean, she has always done big emotions so magically so well.

The very light production from her forever collaborating Manu Khalil, who does all of the production on all of her songs. And they really stepped into this moment of, okay, we're just going to go classic. They brought Argentine Connocienor Rusian, which I don't understand how, but every time this man touches a song, it does get a little more saltry in this very subtle way. And they really just did it perfectly. Like every song so far to me has been just done perfectly and simply and beautifully. It's very cinematic. I mean, I love

Mon La Verde because I think like you said, she is a chameleon. She does adapt to so many different sounds. But that quality of her voice and these sort of big sweeping moments in the song, like she just hits it out of the ballpark every single time. You can feel it. All of it. Every single emotion she's feeling, you can feel it at times 10. 100%. That was Thiso Eso Eso by Mon Laferte. Okay, Issa, what's it going to be, number two?

All right, we're going up, you know, I'm in New York City. We're going up to the Bronx right now. This song came out last month. It's from a relatively new group called Planta Industrial, aka industry plant. And this is Teteo in the Bronx. Okay, I kind of lost my mind when I first heard these guys. It's a Dominican duo from the Bronx, obviously.

Their names are aka the Dark Knight and Saso. And they just do this really cool, like Dominican flow rapping in English and Spanish, but it's like post-punk. Like those bass lines are so killer. And they only have a few singles out. They haven't, you know, they haven't even released an album. But some of their songs will sort of play with reggaeton drops and then again bring in this really harsh, like, punk element. It's just, again, Tumblr Me would have died for this song.

It's so cool and so innovative and I think really pushes the boundaries of like, you know, Latin music is not a genre. Latin music is just people within the Latin diaspora making really cool, innovative art. Issa, I saw you put this on here and I was like, Issa is literally in my brain. I almost brought this song like a couple weeks ago. And then I remembered we were both introduced to them at the same show, no, at summer stage? Oh my God, you're so right, yeah. Wait a second, she was totally there that night. I was.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about them. No, they're amazing. And their presence, too, on stage is ridiculous. Like, they were absolutely opening for the wrong band and absolutely the right music for that space. They did that sing-along, didn't they, to the Mark Antonio Solis song? Yeah. Yeah, I couldn't forget. Their energy was incredible.

completely captivating. Yeah. And I think, you know, like New York City is grappling with gentrification in a way that so many cities in the U.S. are. But this is a song that's really sort of rooted in this neighborhood that they grew up in and retaining the Dominican identity of the Bronx. Like, it's just really powerful, not only sonically, but in its message. Like, the music video is all shot in the Bronx. I'm just, Planta Industrial is very high on my list of artists that I'm watching. I'm so excited to see what else they have up their sleeve. 100% agree. That was Teteo in the Bronx by Planta Industrial. Well, Issa, we're going to take a break, and then I have something really good for you when

we get back. I can't wait. And we're back from break. Okay, Issa, so I'm going to take you on a little bit of a journey. It's not that long of a journey, but buckle up. We're going to Argentina, okay? Let's go. Okay, so Argentine singer, Santi Mook, I've been following him for a minute.

He's from, like, this really small town in the north. It's called Terma de Riosondo. It's pretty much just like a resort town on a river. It has a very kind of, I don't know, I love listening to Argentine music generally because I see them as being this like super instrumental, shoving, pushing, mobilizing force in the Latin music scene ever since obviously the explosion of rock in Español and ever since, like that is their mouthpiece. That is their way that they express themselves.

That's the way that they do politics. It's all those things. And so to listen to Argentine music that is a little bit removed from Buenos Aires is from some of these smaller towns, you always get something a little bit different, a little more innovative. And he released an album earlier this year that I never played anything off of, so I'm going to start us with this song called Sao Carino. Okay, heartthrob alert. Exactly. No, literally. And so he joined forces with Zinon Perreya, which is his artist name.

I don't actually know his full name, but that's the name of another small town in that region. It's near Cordova. And they released an EP together. It's called Hamon and Keseo. Classic. And he kind of really flipped his sound, but in a nice way, he pulled him, Zanon pulled him a little bit closer to the acoustic side. You have more live arrangements.

So this is a song. off of that EP called Quanto Fault for Conno Conna Croskney I look at the day of day of today your news to be there's there to be

see you're in for me and I asked to the sun and a brisa for if your name

said or if you were with another more you're you're So the thing you're going to be really interesting about this to me,

is you're thinking about this legacy of the beating heart of Argentina's rock music. And I think of them being obviously poppy, obviously having. this whatever alternative sound, but almost closer in line with a lot of the kind of alternative pop rock sounds I hear coming out of like the Dominican Republic, for example, with like a solo Fernandez, or even a closer comparison to like early Juliette Venegas to me. Oh, totally. Something about, you know what I mean, like the softness of, like it's a really, really, really, really reduced version of rock that is obviously a lot leaning on the popier side but has a little

bit of that edge to it. And I think they sound amazing together. They're going to go on tour together. It was kind of the exact right marriage for me of what I wanted to hear from Santimuk. I have to play you one more because I was crying, laughing when I heard this song. It's called Anna Baalaba. Of course it is. Play it for me.

I need you to hear the lyrics. It's hilarious. Okay, I know her She'll be L'Lexico Okay, I know She brought this in just

of this Lekico She's a She's a talent Me Okay, I know you brought this in with this frame of reference of like rock in Spanish from Argentina, but another group they really remind me of is the reggae band Los Pericos from Argentina that was really big in like the 80s and 90s.

I think it's something about their voices harmonizing together. It has this really sort of sunny reggae rock quality to it that I get. Anytime I turn on Los Pericos, I feel like it has a very similar vibe, which I've always been dumbfound by that like reggae from Argentina, where did that come from? But I love it. But that is interesting because I feel like they've been pushing further and further north, especially, obviously these two artists do come from the north of the country. But I think you actually talked about this last time you're on the show, is this, the movement in Venezuela, obviously super strong with all the Caribbean influence, the reggae influence. And that scene continuing to grow and expand

and bleed it a little bit into Colombia and places like that. And I do think there is, is a kind of meeting point happening in Argentina, too. Like always, you know? Like always. Also, like, you have to think about the fact that these guys come from close to Corroba, which is like literally home of Quarteto, which is a bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy music. So very different, but energetically similar.

Yeah, no, I love it. I want to go to that tour. That was a couple of songs from Santimuk and Zenon Perra's new EP, Harmoniqueso. Okay, Issa. It's your last chance to get out all of you. your feelings, all of your Tumblrimo feelings. All of my grown woman teenage angst. Okay.

Exactly. To wrap that feeling up, I am bringing you the song Marr by the Ecuadorian singer-songwriter Maria Usbeck. This is from her album, Natura Lessa, which came out in April. I'm pushing the boundaries on what I can bring on the show. I refuse to apologize. I'm sorry, not sorry. I'm in charge today.

I accept. Thank you, thank you. I just, when I hit play on this, album. I had the same feeling I had when I was like 15 and heard VCR by the XX for the first time. Like something about it just really took my breath away. And she has a really interesting story. She, she's from Ecuador. She moved to the U.S. and was sort of in the art pop scene in Miami and in Brooklyn. Her first solo album was co-produced by Caroline Polichick. And then she went back to Ecuador and started making music in Spanish and started rediscovering like all of these indigenous

instruments and indigenous languages and really connected with her heritage. Her 2019 album was the meditation on aging and time passing. And now this one, I believe she's back in the U.S., back in Brooklyn. This album is very much grounded in the natural world. Obviously, the song Mad is about the ocean. But yeah, there's just something about her voice and about this really sort of quiet production that I find so, so refreshing and captivating. Like I just can't get enough of this. You know, it's funny, Issa, because one, I hear absolutely. absolutely no Miami in this. But every other piece of it, I mean, it is that perfect blend of, I brought a track on

maybe two weeks ago. I think it was the week after you were on. And it had like a very similar Andean meets, this kind of like highly produced, slightly electronic sound. And there's something about the marriage of those two things that feels almost natural, but also it's just always like a really nice refreshing back and forth. It's like a conversation. within the song. And I love what she did on this one in particular. It feels grounded, like you said, exactly, in nature. It's beautiful.

I love it. Yeah, it's giving Sophia Cortesies a little bit, which I think works within those same realms of, like, the natural world and electronic music and just... And that's exactly who I brought on in exactly what I was referencing. Of course it is. Of course it is. That was Marr by Maria Uzbek.

I'm done being angsty. Tell me about your last song. Okay. This is a collab that I have seen. Quite a few places. You probably heard it by now, Issa, but I just have not brought it on yet. I was waiting for the perfect moment, and you are, as always, the perfect moment. So this is Echtoe by Latin Mafia and Omar Apollo. I'm asking, I can't find it, and attempt it.

And although no I can't see, I think it's better so. I'm like Stevie Wanda. Baby, you just made me want to. I don't even know how to describe the way to me. I even know how to describe the way to me that actually both of these artists, Latin Mafia and Omar Apollo, were kind of making the same kind of, like, dismissively sad boy music. Uh-huh. If you think, I'm like, what are the words?

Those are the words. Because if you think about Latin Mafia and the song that really kind of put them on the, on the map. which was patas de haugado. Like that whole song is, hey, I kind of like you. You smell like vanilla is how it opens. And then he's like, actually, can we stay together forever and figure out the waves of life? And that is very much Omar Apollo historically.

Like his last record was like, I'm gonna sing in Spanish because I don't want you to know how heartbroken I am. And so the two of them together is definitely a collaboration that I think ultimately does make sense. but not one that I would have first put in my head. And the fact that this perfect blend of the two happens with cumbia is like so exciting to me. Because neither of them have really tapped into it.

I mean, to me, Latin Mafia is a sound that's coming out of Mexico, one of the most boundary-pushing, interesting new artists that's happening right now. And yet none of their sound is particularly obviously notably Mexican. And then Omar Apollo is someone who, who every once in a while his bedroom pop veers into, you know, a song in Spanish, or he brings maybe like a little bit of a mariachi element. But he, too, despite speaking a lot about his Mexican-American identity, doesn't necessarily often sonically represent that.

And so the fact that both of them are so in your face, cumbia, with this heartbreak song, and it works really, really, really well because cumbia is original heartbreak. Well, and I think to your point, I think it works. because it is something new for both of them. Because when I, when this song came out, before I had listened to it, I was like, okay, I love Latin Mafia and I love Omar Apollo, but I don't necessarily need them on a song together because their music is already so similar, them mathematically and sonically. But it is really fun to see them sort of going on this adventure together. And I mean, the cumbia with the sad boy lyrics, like, come on.

I know. There's nothing better, really. It's, yeah. It's like full happy heartbreak. That was Echto by Latin Mafia and Omar Apollo. Issa, thank you so much for joining us again this week. This is the summer of Issa and Anna, I guess, at this point. The summer of Issa and Anna is forever.

Thank you for having me. You have been listening to Alt Latino. Our audio producer is Noah Caldwell. And the executive producer of NPR Music is Soraya Muhammad. I'm Anna Maria Sayer. And I'm Isabella Gomez-Armiento. Thank you for listening. Ciao.